Obama's plan for connecting farmers to the net

In obama's "rural" issues section he talks of a plan for broadband access to rural America:


Connect Rural America: Barack Obama will ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure. He will modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well.




Now the question is, is it the governments job to supply internet acces to people or is it the markets?

Who will pay for this? Will they get it for free? How will this work?

The Tennessee Valley Authority did a good job of bringing electricity to rural residents that needed it and I see no harm done by that on a grand scale.

Broadband is a luxury since dial-up is available, as well as satellite broadband. I don't see this as a necessity and think this should be operated at a market level and not a government one.

They can slowly download their porn until they can afford the broadband.

shuamort said:

Broadband is a luxury since dial-up is available, as well as satellite broadband. I don't see this as a necessity and think this should be operated at a market level and not a government one.

They can slowly download their porn until they can afford the broadband.

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With that attitude they would still have a water pump (if that) in their kitchen.

winston53660 said:

With that attitude they would still have a water pump (if that) in their kitchen.

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Water=needed for survival
Broadband internet=not needed for survival*


*Unless we need eHarmony to repopulate the rural areas immediately.

winston53660 said:

With that attitude they would still have a water pump (if that) in their kitchen.

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Unless they pay for the well and septic system for themselves. Oh wait...they already do.

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

Now the question is, is it the governments job to supply internet acces to people or is it the markets?

Who will pay for this? Will they get it for free? How will this work?

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My guess would be that the taxpayers will foot the bill for the actual cable being laid. The users will have to pay a monthly fee to the providers just like everyone else.

rivrrat said:

My guess would be that the taxpayers will foot the bill for the actual cable being laid. The users will have to pay a monthly fee to the providers just like everyone else.

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Is this the domain of government? I mean a laundry machine is more efficient and convienent than going to the laundrymay, should they provide maytags as well?

Connect Rural America: Barack Obama will ensure that rural Americans have access to a modern communications infrastructure. He will modernize an FCC program that supports rural phone service so that it promotes affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well.

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Nowhere does Obama imply that the government will be supplying anything whatsoever. If you're worried about the cost of supporting those actually supplying the access then you should have a huge bone to pick with the gov under both the Bush and Clinton administrations. Since the early nineties the gov has been pouring huge amounts of money into a push for last mile fiber access, which has only barely come into fruition in the past year or so.

By the time they get it in place it will be obsolete. We switched to AirCards some time ago and that technology is only going to get better.

Believe it or not, farmers do have cell phone access so they already have that infractructure in place.

Tractors and combines have had built-in GPS technology for several years and will have features that require mobile Internet access soon if they don't already.

Promises, promises.........

I see you visit reddit

Kernel Sanders said:

I see you visit reddit

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Absolutely. I voted that one up, too.

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

Is this the domain of government? I mean a laundry machine is more efficient and convienent than going to the laundrymay, should they provide maytags as well?

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Never said it was the domain of the government, I was merely clarifying what the plan likely was. I made no mention of my opinion of it.

As a small government individual, I would think my opinion can be easily guessed though.

First and foremost I think the government should push for broadband penetration to rural America. The citizens can't just "pay for it." Like cell coverage, broadband infrastructure is market driven. Rolling it out to rural America where the customer base is decidedly smaller is not good for private industry bottom line. And that is why you can't rely on the industry to build out that far. It's just too expensive and the ROI is not there. So we aren't talking about an option of a customer "just paying for it." We aren't just talking about farmers who "already have cell phones." We are talking about rural school districts, small towns, small governments, etc. It's not just a luxury.

Broadband internet is a very viable next generation infrastructure. There is no reason not to push it out everywhere. Anymore business relies on it heavily, it's an alternate means for establishing telephony, is a great educational tool, it's critical for modernizing processes from all areas of government...this list goes on.

Regarding obsolescence that is simply not true. In the case of building out infrastructure to carry open source, open architecture broadband service...the infrastructure is agnostic. It's a transportation device. When talking about air cards and cell service, you are talking about an issue of infrastructure coverage that is not there. I work with dozens of rural organization building out RF networks for public safety. Cell service is spotty and rarely reliable because there is no real revenue potential there.

This fight is being picked simply to pick it. And Obama isn't the first proponent of rural broadband legislation. It's been heavily carried at the state and federal level.

Bottom line, propagating broadband access is good government. To say otherwise is simply speaking from ignorance.

Is it the governments place to ensure farmers get given money to make food that rots in warehouses?

mikhail said:

Is it the governments place to ensure farmers get given money to make food that rots in warehouses?

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Red herring there mik.